Ye Mo's finger still hovered over the activation button. The console's green light blinked on and off, as though urging him on. He did not press it right away, turning instead toward the holographic projector by the wall. A large patch on the back of his hoodie was soaked and clung to his skin, but he had no time to change. Emma Frost had just left, her footsteps fading at the end of the corridor, but he knew she would not really leave. Sure enough, two minutes later, she returned with a data module in her hand.
"The perimeter signals have changed," she said. "It's not the enemy. The tracking code the man in the trench coat left behind has activated in reverse. He marked three backup entrances earlier."
Ye Mo nodded and plugged the data module into the port. The projection lit up, and a three-dimensional model of an underground base slowly rotated. The walls, corridors, and surveillance positions were all marked in red. This was the model they had reconstructed from fragments of the Wakanda research station. It was not very precise, but it would do.
"Yingya," Ye Mo said.
The man in the corner stirred. He had been sitting in the shadows the whole time, equipment resting on his lap, his fingers constantly swiping across the screen. Hearing his name, he raised his head. Half his face showed beneath the brim of his cap, his gaze steady.
"You said you've been inside the perimeter guard posts?"
"Once." Yingya's voice was low. "I didn't reach the core area, but I saw the guards' shift-change procedure at the eastern ventilation shaft. They use biometric door locks. There's a seven-second blind spot."
"Seven seconds?" Ye Mo frowned. "What can we do in that time? Even Wall Phasing takes at least three seconds."
"That's why we can't force our way in." Emma Frost walked up to the projection and tapped it, enlarging the eastern passage. "I just scanned the patrol frequency. The infrared monitoring cycles every four minutes. If you can slip in before Thermal Vision refreshes, the system will mistake it for equipment lag."
Ye Mo stared at the ventilation duct for a few seconds. "Then you'll have to stall the communications chain for me. A break of just 0.8 seconds will do."
"I can," Emma Frost said. "But I can only interfere once. Any more and they'll trace it back."
"Once is enough." Ye Mo looked up at Yingya. "You'll create a disturbance on the perimeter. Blow up a transformer or hack the lighting system. Don't make too much noise, just enough to get them to divert some people."
Yingya nodded. "I can handle the power distribution box in Sector B. There's a maintenance hatch there that nobody checks."
"Good." Ye Mo reached out and brought up the Gene Spiral Tower interface, testing combinations of abilities in his head. Regenerative Phasing could get him through walls without a problem, but its cooldown was still unclear. The last time he used it, the metallic patches on his right arm had nearly gone out of control. He could not take that risk again.
He finally settled on three steps: Yingya would draw their attention away, Emma Frost would create a communications blackout window, and he would then enter the core. Throughout the operation, signals would be transmitted in sync with their heartbeats, with no verbal communication.
"What if the signal cuts out?" Emma Frost asked.
Ye Mo looked at her. "Then do what we did in Congo-you charge ahead, and I'll follow."
Emma Frost said nothing more, only nodding lightly. She knew which time he meant. That day, she had taken a bullet for him without calculating their chances or waiting for orders, charging straight in. They had not known each other as well back then, but she had trusted him to follow through.
It was the same now.
Yingya spoke again. "I marked two extraction points. If the layout inside has changed and the original route is blocked, we can still go around."
He drew two lines on the projection, pointing to the western drainage pipe and the freight elevator shaft on the lowest level.
"The drainage pipe is too narrow, and the freight elevator has gravity sensors." Ye Mo shook his head. "Unless we want to be flattened."
"I know." Yingya remained unhurried. "That's why I added a jammer. Stick it to the shaft wall, and it can fool the sensors for ten seconds."
Ye Mo glanced at him. "You brought one of those too?"
"Never leave home without it." The corners of Yingya's mouth lifted slightly. "Back when I worked jobs, there was always someone who liked locking the doors and setting the dogs loose."
Emma Frost suddenly interrupted. "Wait, look here." She pointed at a room on level B3. "During the scan just now, I found an unusually dense concentration of residual brain waves. It doesn't look like an ordinary laboratory. More like... a holding area."
Ye Mo leaned closer. "You mean there are people inside?"
"More than one." Emma Frost frowned. "Their consciousness fluctuations are very weak, as if they've been suppressed. But there are quite a few. At least a dozen."
The room fell quiet for a few seconds.
What had originally been a reconnaissance mission had now become a rescue.
Ye Mo was silent for a moment. He placed his hand on the confirmation button, then withdrew it. "Change the mission classification. Upgrade it from 'intelligence gathering' to 'intervention.'"
"That doubles the risk," Yingya reminded him.
"I know." Ye Mo looked at the projection. "But we can't leave them there. If these people really are mutants being used as server nodes, once the system starts up, we won't be able to save them."
Emma Frost took a deep breath. "Then I'll need to engage psychic shielding in advance. Once we get close, their streams of consciousness may hit me."
"Can you hold up?" Ye Mo asked.
"I'll have to, whether I can or not." She gave him a look. "If you can control those metallic patches while phasing through walls, I have no excuse to drop the ball."
Ye Mo smiled briefly. "All right. That's settled, then."
He brought up the route map again and integrated the new information. Phase one: Yingya would sabotage Sector B's power supply to draw away the guards; phase two: Emma Frost would launch psychic interference, cutting internal communications for 0.8 seconds; phase three: Ye Mo would use Regenerative Phasing to enter the core area and head straight for the holding room on level B3.
They also prepared two backup plans. One involved taking the freight elevator shaft and using the jammer to fool the sensors; the other involved crawling through the drainage pipe, which would be slow but highly concealed.
"Run another simulation," Ye Mo said.
Emma Frost sat back down at the terminal and rested her fingers against her temples. Yingya switched on his portable device and connected to the main system. The projection switched to dynamic simulation mode, and three virtual figures began to move.
The first attempt failed. Ye Mo triggered the alarm just after passing through the wall because he had miscalculated the cooldown and moved half a beat too slowly.
"There's a delay after Regenerative Phasing." He touched his left arm. "About two seconds. I can't use it again during that time."
"Then add a buffer," Yingya suggested. "Throw a smoke grenade before you phase through the wall to cover the gap between movements."
In the second simulation, they adjusted their timing and infiltrated successfully, but encountered a patrol at the entrance to level B3. Forced into a head-on fight, they exposed their position.
"We can't fight," Emma Frost stressed. "Once we do, the entire system will wake up."
On the third attempt, they changed the timing offsets. Yingya acted fifteen seconds early, Emma Frost cut communications 0.8 seconds before the alarm sounded, and Ye Mo phased through the wall during the blind spot. Without making contact at any point, they reached the target room successfully.
"Good." Yingya nodded. "This one works."
But Ye Mo did not relax. "The problem is, there won't be perfect timing in reality. Nobody knows whether they'll add guards at the last minute or upgrade the surveillance."
"Then we improvise," Emma Frost said. "You move forward, and I follow. Just like in training."
"Not just you." Ye Mo looked at Yingya. "You need to keep up too. If our timing falls apart, you have to judge immediately where we should retreat next."
Yingya was silent for two seconds. "I can memorize the routes, but I can't move on instinct like you two."
"You don't need instinct," Ye Mo said. "You only need to remember one thing-when we suddenly stop moving, it means we're about to act. Don't ask questions then. Just clear the obstacles according to the backup plan."
Yingya stared at him for a few seconds before finally nodding. "Understood."
The three calibrated the timing points again. Shift-change intervals, patrol cycles, and signal refresh rates were all precise down to the second. Ye Mo set his heartbeat signal as the synchronization reference, and Emma Frost and Yingya each paired their receivers.
"One last equipment check," he said.
Emma Frost confirmed that the psychic shielding module was functioning normally. Yingya tested the jammer and EMP device, while Ye Mo checked the miniature devices concealed in his hoodie's inner lining-vibranium fragments, signal decoys, emergency drugs. Nothing was missing.
"All set." Yingya put away his equipment.
Emma Frost looked at the route on the projection and said softly, "Third simulation, starting."
The virtual figures set off again. Yingya detonated a small device on the perimeter, and the lights flickered out; Emma Frost's fingers moved slightly, and the communications chain broke instantly; Ye Mo moved along the wall and passed through the alloy door one second before the alarm sounded.
Everything went smoothly.
The image froze in front of the door on level B3.
Ye Mo stood in the center of the holographic projection. The lines on his left palm grew faintly hot, pulsing in time with his heartbeat. He did not give the final order, turning instead to Emma Frost and Yingya.
"One more run."